Fleeting Pages is a pop-up indy book store. It opened yesterday in the former Borders in East Liberty (a short walk from the Busway), the idea behind the project is to take a former big-box book store, and create, for a month, a place where independently published books, magazine and works of art can flourish.

Their calendar is quickly filling up with free workshops and open mic nights, and it’s staffed by a slew of volunteers.

I’m really sad that this isn’t happening in November, this would be an awesome place to have NaNoWriMo write-ins, but I’ll be sure to go visit before their lease is up. I’ll post some pictures from my trip, I just need to find the time.

Dancers from Attack Theater discuss the show as they sit on the winding stage

Quantum Theatre recently invited me out to a special preview of their latest show, “Maria de Buenos Aires,” and all I can say is this: go see this show.﻿

Sometimes I forget how much of a sucker I am for good strings (and good cymbals), and the live orchestra during just the little bit that I saw kept me transfixed, even to the point of occasionally ignoring the singers. Not to say the singers were not amazing, because they were, but the live orchestration kept me enthralled.

“Maria” is about the history of tango, and the theme that form must die to be reborn. The entirety of the show: the dialogue, dance, music, set design, even location, all explore that theme. Karla Boos, Quantum Theatre’s artistic director said that “Maria” really is a big experiment, and she’s anxious to hear from the patrons what they liked and what they didn’t. I certainly appreciate the dialogue, and am happy for that.

Quantum has taken a few liberties with the piece, all of which I think are for the better. The orchestration has been modified a bit, putting more emphasis on the violin, which of course, makes me extremely happy. They also changed the narrator’s part, not only adding more singing, but making it more English-focused as well, which helps to clarify the story as it progresses. Additionally, the use of projection screens, with custom movie clips (written and created by Joe Seamans) will enhance the performance, again helping to bridge the language barrier and keep the audience from becoming lost.

East Liberty YMCA. It doesn't look like it, but for now, it's a theater.

During our preview, we became part of the blocking, as two of the dancers from Attack Theater made sure they could move one of their props through the audience without hitting anyone in the head (spoiler alert: no injuries, plenty of room). The preview that I saw, was also the first time the orchestra and actors were together in the performance space, so it was like every other musical rehearsal I’ve ever been at or seen, which was comforting. Also, every single musical makes the same face when a note is played out of tune: it’s nice to see universals like that.

I only have one bit of criticism, and it’s not even about the show itself. Later in April Quantum will be doing a “Women Only” evening. Now granted, I’m not a woman, and I don’t think this is their intent, but I refuse to believe that women can be so weak or scared that they need a night all to themselves. Yes, it can be nice to meet in a setting and already have something in common, but I come from the JossWhedon school of thought, so I view my feminism through a lens of actual equality and strength. But hey, if it fills the house, more power to Quantum, I can’t argue with economics.

“Maria de Buenos Aires” opens tomorrow and runs through April 17. Find out more, including local dining partners and directions (it’s just a short walk from the East Busway!) at Quantum’s website. Check out all my photos here (just be warned, I am not a good photographer!)

Since it is summer, I have been walking to more and more places and taking lots more pictures from my cell phone. For the past couple of weeks I have walked past the Bakery Square development on Penn Avenue in East Liberty many a time and I have started taking some pictures. I thought it would be an interesting thing to document here on the Pittsburgh Metroblog and I want to invite everyone to participate. I think it will be interesting to see how the pictures of this development look over time.

This project has already generated some excitement and some controversy in Pittsburgh, which is one of the reasons why I think I started watching the building in the first place.

If you are a Flickr user please join the group and add your pictures – I will try to post them here on a regular basis. If you aren’t a flickr user, thats okay too – you can send them to me (info – at – IheartPGH.com) and I can add them.

Here is a really great picture I found on Flickr of the Nabisco Bakery that was taken in 1946. (Photo Cowtool)

Here are some of the pictures I have taken in the past few weeks, nothing too exciting in terms of changes but it will be interesting to see how this project progresses.

Chris Ivey, is a Pittsburgh based filmmaker who works on documentary films around the world. For the past few years he has been documenting development and change in East Liberty. Ivey has created two volumes to his documentary East of Liberty. Here is a segment from Part II which includes interviews with different people in the area about the Bakery Square development that is taking place in the old Nabisco Building. I saw the documentary last week during a screening at the Union Project. I am interested to hear what other people think about the Bakery Square development.

I happened to be walking down Highland Ave this morning and came across a long, long line of people waiting for Obama tickets. According to the campaign staff people had been waiting since 9 am. They started to distribute tickets around noon. By 2:30 they had given away all of the tickets and there were over 400 people on the waiting list. Barack Obama will be in Pittsburgh on Friday for a town hall meeting at soldiers and sailors in Oakland.

Photos

Recent Comments

Move over, PedutoFox There is no way this can be real. How on earth does something like this happen?? Love it!

Wash your hands.Mike I haven’t seen them while I’ve been out and about (granted, I haven’t been in a school in...Eve I’ve seen these around Allegheny County for years…various schools, downtown businesses. It’s...

Only 72 days left…Fox I agree wtih you entirely. I have come SO CLOSE to blocking people on my Facebook news feed (as I’m sure...